McGinley gets rankings wish

Paul McGinley had his wish come true this week when the Governing Board of the Official World Rankings announced changes to the system.

The Dubliner complained in May that the current system penalises players who play more often.

"At present, we have a system that rewards guys who basically play 20 events a year and play decently in those events. We should be encouraging guys to play more," said the world No 200. "It's very hard to have a high point average in the rankings if you play 30 events a year. I am not a mathematician, but we've got to find a system that does not penalize players for the amount they play."

Looks as though the powers that be were listening to the man who could be one of Colin Montgomerie's Ryder Cup vice-captains next year.

“The Board believes this measure will encourage players to play more often, which will be a positive development for all Tours and the game of professional golf in general,” said Sir Michael Bonallack, Chairman of the Governing Board of the Official World Golf Ranking.

Rather than delay the application of the rule for a two-year period, as has been the case with other changes, the Board agreed to implement the new system in stages, beginning January 2010. This process is aimed to avoid any significant changes in a player’s ranking prior to any Official World Golf Ranking eligibility cut-off date for a Major Championship or World Golf Championship. The current “Minimum Divisor” of 40 events over the two-year ranking period will remain unchanged.

Following is the exact language regarding the Maximum Divisor measure:

Starting on Week No.1 2010 (week ending January 3) a Maximum Divisor will be introduced represented by a “Player’s last 60 events”, followed by a reduction of the number of events every six months until finally on Week 1 2012 (week ending January 8) with a Maximum Divisor of the “Player’s last 52 events”.